Elizabeth Porretto

Assistant Instructional Professor
ewebber@uchicago.edu
Gates-Blake 233
Office Hours: T 10:30-12:30 & by appt.
PhD, University of Chicago, 2015

My love for Italian language and culture has not only guided my academic career, but has also led me to live, study and work abroad in Bologna, Palermo and Rome throughout the years.  I began my career as a foreign language teacher in 2003, when I began teaching English in Italy after graduating from Wellesley College with a BA in English Literature and Italian Studies.  After completing my PhD in Italian Studies here at The University of Chicago in 2015, with a dissertation on the representation of non-biological motherhood in the work of Elsa Morante and Dacia Maraini, I welcomed the opportunity to become a full-time member of the Italian language program staff. In addition to foreign language pedagogy, my interests include the work of Italian women writers, cinema and translation.

Recent Courses in RLL
  • ITAL 10100 Beginning Elementary Italian I (Autumn 2016, Autumn 2017, Autumn 2018, Autumn 2019)
  • ITAL 10200 Beginning Elementary Italian II (Winter 2017, Winter 2018, Winter 2019, Winter 2020)
  • ITAL 10300 Beginning Elementary Italian III (Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020)
  • ITAL 12200 Italian for Speakers of Romance Languages (Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Winter 2019, Spring 2019, Spring 2020)
  • ITAL 21100 Le regioni italiane: lingua, dialetti, tradizioni (Winter 2020)
Subject Area: Italian Studies